[NBC] Former Air Force airmen are speaking out against America's use of drone warfare, calling the military drone program "morally outrageous" and "one of the most devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world."

In interviews with NBC News, three former servicemen -- who together have 15 years of military drone experience -- decried the civilian cost of drone strikes and called on President Obama to "turn this around" before he leaves office.

"We were very callous about any real collateral damage," said Michael Haas, 29, who worked as both a drone operator and instructor. "Whenever that possibility came up, most of the time it was a 'guilt by association' or sometimes we didn't even consider other people that were on screen."

#3
Haas should consider his predecessors, who dropped plane loads of bombs on German factories. And not precision bombs either -- unguided bombs, targeted by a guy who would just barely be drinking age now, while under fire, in a great big prop-driven plane. They did their duty, won their war, and didn't buy post-war fame by turning coat.

#5
Between the time of the German victory in the Battle of France and the liberation of the country, the Western Allies bombed many locations in France. In all 1,570 French cities and towns were bombed by Anglo-American forces between June 1940 and May 1945. The total number of civilians killed was 68,778 men, women and children (including the 2,700 civilians killed in Royan) - more at Wiki.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] Heavy festivities have been reported among the top Taliban leaders in western Herat...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province of Afghanistan.

According to a security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, festivities erupted among the supporters of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and another Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Rasool.

The official further added that festivities started around 5:00 am local time in Shindand district and heavy gun fire still continue between the supporters of two sides.

He said the Taliban shadow district governor appointed by Mullah Mansoor was killed during the clash. Meanwhile,...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.

Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?

[AA.TR] The discovery of yet another alleged mass grave in Kenya's Muslim-majority North Eastern Province has sent shockwaves throughout the country, where Kenyan security forces are already facing criticism for their suspected roles in extrajudicial killings.

On Sunday, Kenyan security forces discovered at least a dozen graves on the outskirts of Mandera town in the province while they were searching for a missing mother of five.

A senior senator from the area and local residents alleged that the graves in fact belonged to Muslim victims killed by Kenyan security forces themselves.

"One of the women [victims at the gravesite] has been identified; she was enjuggedPlease don't kill me! by people who introduced themselves as the Kenya police, I really don't know who is fooling who, but as Muslims we are living in fear," Abdi Fatah, a resident from Mandera town, told Anadolu Agency via telephone.

"We have been crying that we are being targeted, but report after report, no one comes to our aid; all the human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups have said that this is happening," Fatah said.

"The discovery of mass graves in Mandera yesterday evening is a clear indication that this evil process of extermination of suspects in total disregard of due process is the norm rather the exception," he added.

He also said that leaders from Mandera County will meet Monday to plan their course of action, noting the fact that at least 12 graves had been found at the site so far.

"Clearly, this has gone too far and must stop. It's time we say no, not just as leaders but as a society too."

Kenyan police denied the allegations.No, no! Certainly not!"Anybody who could have perpetrated such an atrocity must face the full face of the law, I am trying to ask the commanders where the mass graves are situated, for now we are not aware of any mass graves but have received reports of the bodies being found in Mandera," police front man said.

This is not the first time that state security forces have been put on the spot for allegedly carrying out extrajudicial killings; some key findings from a 2014 UN report also noted that since 2010 there have been a large number of extrajudicial killings in the country.

In August, Muslim human rights activists also released reports saying that over 100 young Muslim men went missing in Mandera county alone after they were arrested by security officers; most are feared to have been killed off extrajudicially.

[BBC] An American member of Somali Islamist krazed killer group al-Shabaab... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... has been incarceratedYou have the right to remain silent... in Somalia, an official has told the BBC.

He said the man had been stopped while he was trying to escape from al-Shabaab after some of his friends were killed following an internal rift.

The cause of the dispute is not clear.

The group has experienced some splits in recent months over whether to switch allegiance from al-Qaeda to the so-called Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.....
The man's position within al-Shabaab is not clear but Barawe District Commissioner Hussein Barre Mohammed told the BBC Somali service that the US krazed killer has been in the krazed killer group for "a very long time".

The captured krazed killer admitted that he had been involved in the al-Shabaab attack on Garissa University college in north-eastern Kenya, in which 148 people were killed earlier this year, according to the commissioner.

He added that the man does not speak Somali.

He was intercepted by the Somali army on his way to Barawe, 220km (135 miles) south-west of the capital Mogadishu on Sunday, the commissioner told the BBC.

He is being investigated by the police who are working with the army and Amisom, the Africa Union force in Somalia.

Hundreds of foreigners are believed to have gone to join al-Shabaab, including American Omar Hammami, known as al-Amriki, who was killed in 2013 Somalia after falling out with the group.

[AlAhram] Egypt's military destroyed in November 2015 a total of 20 smuggling tunnels connecting the Egyptian border with the Paleostinian Gazoo Strip in November 2015, military spokesperson Mohammed Samir said in a statement on Monday.

Hey, General President Sisi: that second canal connecting the Med to the Gulf of Aqaba is looking better and better, isn't it?

The army said that the nationwide search patrols made in November 2015 lead to the confiscation of 478 weapons of various types and 530 assorted ammunitions including a large amount of kaboom.

The military provided a map of areas where the weapons were seized, including Matrouh near the Libyan borders, Siwa Oasis located south of Matrouh, Ismailia at the west bank of the Suez Canal, the Red Sea's Zaafrana, and other areas.

The spokesperson also announced the arrest of 610 illegal migrants of various nationalities during the same month. The statement included a map showing where the illegal migrants were apprehended. These areas included Matrouh, Saloum, Siwa Oasis and Raas El Hekma near the Libyan border, and Al Qusair on the Red Sea.

The destruction of smuggling tunnels connecting the Israeli-besieged Gazoo Strip

So amusing that the Egyptians also besieging Gaza so describe it...

with the Sinai Peninsula is one of several counter-terrorism initiatives taken by the Egyptian government in recent years.

Egypt sees the tunnels as a passageway for arms and murderous Moslems it has been fighting in North Sinai, posing a risk to the country's security. In October 2014, the Egyptian military said it had destroyed a total of 1,813 tunnels in Sinai since 2011.

[ABC] An American fugitive, who officials say is suspected of recruiting impressionable young men for terrorist groups including ISIS and was linked to at least one domestic terror attack in the U.S., has turned himself in to authorities, the State Department announced today.

Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, known online as "Miski," surrendered to the government of Somalia early last month, a State Department spokesperson told reporters. Hassan has been wanted by the FBI since he left the U.S. in 2009 for allegedly providing "material support" to the al Qaeda-linked terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia, often purportedly by convincing young American recruits to join. U.S. officials accuse Hassan of since moving on to recruiting for the Syria-based terror group ISIS.

Over the weekend ABC News reported that investigators were trying to determine if the couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino last week had any online connection with Hassan in the months before he turned himself in.

Prior to the tragedy in San Bernardino, Hassan was linked to another deadly incident this year in Garland, Texas, where two men attempted to attack a Mohammad cartoon event, but were gunned down by police before they could kill anyone. In the days and weeks leading up to that attack, one of the gunmen had repeated social media contact with Hassan, who was urging his American followers to "do their part" like the three men who killed 12 people in Paris in January.

[Daily Mail] ISIS has recruited experts with chemistry, physics and computer science degrees to wage war with weapons of mass destruction against the West, a shocking European Parliament report has claimed.

The terror organisation, according to the briefing document, 'may be planning to try to use internationally banned weapons of mass destruction in future attacks'.

The document, which was compiled in the aftermath of the deadly attacks on Paris claimed that ISIS has already smuggled WMD material into Europe.

#1
First they came for the Jews. And everybody condemned the Zionist Entity for the oppression that drove Religion of Peace to such excesses. And then they came for the Americans---took them down a peg...

* WASHINGTON FREE EBACON > REPORT: TERRORIST GROUPS COULD LAUNCH US ATTACKS [Mass casualty], OBTAIN WMDS UNDER OBAMA'S CURRENT ANTI-ISIS STRATEGY | THINK-TANK [American Enterprise Institute = AEI] SAYS AL-QAEDA, ISIS COULD CONTROL TWICE AS MUCH TERRITORY, + HAVE TWICE AS MANY FIGHTERS IN TWO YEARS TIME [circa Year 2018].

[Weekly Standard] Law enforcement officials in San Bernardino and Los Angeles may have investigated Syed Farook one week before the shooting on the community development center on December 2, 2015, that left 14 dead and 17 injured, according to a review of police communications immediately following the attacks.

Federal and local authorities have insisted that neither of the attackers had aroused suspicion before the assault earlier this month and that both Syed Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were unknown to law enforcement and US intelligence. But conversations between law enforcement officials in the hours after the shootings leave a different impression.

Farook is first identified by name at approximately 11:40am local time, just a half hour after the shooting began. The information came from a county worker, who noted that Farook had been acting nervous and left the holiday party twenty minutes before the shooting began.

In a subsequent exchange at approximately 12:08pm the dispatcher addresses an officer nicknamed "Trav" upon hearing "Syed Farook." She says: "Reference that name, I believe one of the [garbled] was working that name up for something last week. I'll have to check."

In a second exchange shortly after 12:20, another officer says of Farook: "I just got some info from that LAPD that they have information on one of your suspects. I heard that somebody was trying to INV that guy. Can you find out who I can give this information to?"

A third exchange, two minutes later, follows:

Officer 2: [garbled] I had received a call [garbled] that had some information that they had ran the guy or something last week and I was going to give it to your intel guys.

Officer 1: Okay, that's what I was trying to get you to. If you're at the mobile command -- uh, what's your 20?Ok, so local LE 'ran' him. What then? Were they told to back off? Was he a 'person of interest' to the Feds, or part of something ongoing? I cannot accept the statements that this fellow, his wife, and family were not on someone's radar. Apparently Steve Hayes can't either.

[Daily Mail] Investigators are now looking into whether the $28,000 transaction was a loan, since Farook earned $53,000 a year as an environmental health inspector for San Bernardino County, according to Fox News.

WebBank.com, a Utah-based company, describes itself on its website as ' a leading provider of national consumer and commercial private-label and bank card financing programs' on a nationwide basis. Farook converted $10,000 of the $28,000 to cash on or about November 20, and withdrew the money from a Union Bank in San Bernardino.Any bank reporting to the feds on these transations ?
In the days leading up to the massacre, at least three transfers of $5,000 appeared to go to Farook's mother.Would that would be the same 'mother' who was an active member of the local champter of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), lived with Farook and slept on ammo crates and pipe fittings ?Your average cocaine dealer gets more scrutiny at the banks these days...Katherine Russell, wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, pressure cooker redux anyone? Source of the explosives used in the Boston Bombing was reportedly legally obtained fireworks. No mention made yet of the type and source of the San Bernadino explosives.

#1
I wonder if the $28 k was sourced by one of our government agencies as part of a sting of some kind? Perhaps Farook figured it out and that's why the sudden, second-tier terrorist attack instead of something more 'spectacular' that it looks like was planned.

#3
Another possibility: Word got back to the pair's handlers that there was danger of compromise of a larger, overall plan. Farooq and his gun moll then were used to both deflect from and seal-off the larger operation.

[Breitbart] Though President Barack Obama claimed that America must "enlist Muslim communities" to combat terrorism in his Sunday evening Oval Office address, former FBI Counterterrorism Agent John Guandolo said on Monday's Breitbart News Daily (6AM-9AM EST on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125) that since 9/11, "we collectively have received nearly zero help from the Muslim Community."

[DAWN] SHIKARPUR: The Pesh Imam of a mosque belonging to the Shia community suffered burns when his Hujra (a residential quarter allotted to a prayer leader within a mosque) in Jamra village of Shikarpur was set on fire in the early hours of Sunday.

According to the victim, Maulvi Sabir Hussain Khoso, he was asleep in the Hujra at Majid Al-Mahdi when the arson attack took place. He said he woke up after feeling the heat of the fire and found himself surrounded by flames. He said he rushed out of the Hujra to save his life but suffered burns.

Maulvi Khoso claimed that he also smelt petrol fumes and saw three or four persons fleeing the mosque moments after he rushed out of his quarter.

Personnel from the Lakhi Ghulam Shah cop shoppe visited the mosque and also recorded the victim's statement.

Maulvi Khoso told them that the attackers allegedly belonged to a proscribed sectarian outfit and also identified one of them as Aurangzeb Khoso.

The victim was taken to the Shikarpur Civil Hospital where doctors referred him to the Sukkur Civil Hospital for treatment.

The incident and the victim's statement caused alarm in the local Shia community as leaders of various organizations including Quaid-e-Millat-e-Jafaria Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, Shia Ulema Council leader Maulana Zahooruddin Mekho, Azhar Hajano, Ghulam Abbas Bhayo, Sajjan Mahar, Nadir Hajano and Arz Mohammed Kharoos rushed to the village and visited the mosque. They condemned the attack and vowed to foil such conspiracies against the community. They urged the federal and Sindh governments to ensure safety and security of holy mans, leaders and members of the community and protection of its religious places.

However,you can observe a lot just by watching... Lakhi DSP Atta Mohammed Abbasi and Lakhi Ghulam Shah SHO Mumtaz Murawat quoting the chieftain and several members of the Khosa community in Shikarpur said that the attack might be the result of a dispute between Maulvi Sabir Khoso and certain Khoso community members. The coppers advised the Shia leaders not to give the incident a sectarian colour until they reached a conclusion over the actual motive.

Arab and Jewish residents in the flash-point West Bank city of Hebron clashed violently Monday following a Paleostinian terror attack that left one Israeli seriously maimed earlier in the day.

Paleostinians threw stones at Israelis who gathered near the Tomb of the Patriarchs holy site to demonstrate against the attack.

Several dozen Jewish residents marched into Hebron's old city in protest at the attack. They threw rocks at Paleostinians and were met by volleys of rocks in return.

Israeli security forces pushed the marchers back toward the Jewish enclave in the city, while holding back Paleostinian demonstrators at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the festivities.

On Monday afternoon, a Paleostinian stabbed and seriously maimed an Israeli man in his 40s near the Tomb site. Paleostinian sources identified the attacker as 21-year-old Ihab Fathi Miswadi, from Hebron. Miswadi was shot and killed by security forces at the scene.

The Israeli victim sustained several stab wounds to his upper body and was evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Hebron has been a flash point in the recent wave of Paleostinian stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks that has swept the country since October.

[IsraelTimes] Military court jails PFLP member Khalida Jarrar for urging abduction of IDF soldiers and violating an Israeli travel ban

A military court in the West Bank on Sunday sentenced Paleostinian politician Khalida Jarrar to 15 months in jail for "inciting terrorism" by calling for the abduction of IDF soldiers, and for violating an Israeli travel ban.

Jarrar, a senior member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine and a well-known political figure, accepted a plea deal and confessed to the 12 charges leveled against her. Those included violating an IDF travel ban, membership in an illegal organization -- Israel considers the PFLP a terror group -- participation in illegal protests, and incitement to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

"Jarrar was sentenced to 15 months on the charges she was tossed in the slammerBook 'im, Mahmoud! for a few months ago, including incitement of terrorism," an army spokesperson told AFP on Monday.

In April, Jarrar was arrested and given a six-month term of detention without trial for violating an IDF order issued in August 2014 restricting her to the Jericho area. The period of incarceration since April will be counted toward her sentence, meaning she is likely to remain in jail until next summer. At the time of her arrest, the IDF said she posed unspecified "substantial security risks."

The Paleostinian prisoner rights group Addameer said she had also been fined NIS 10,000 and given a five-year suspended term.

Israel's coalition of Arab parties, the Joint List, slammed Jarrar's sentence and said the charges brought against her were politically motivated.

"This government has nothing to offer other than scaring Israelis and oppressing and dispossessing Paleostinians," MK Aida Touma-Suleiman said in a statement on behalf of the party.

Touma-Suleiman said Jarrar's actions were a justified defense of the rights of Paleostinians living under Israeli occupation, and that she planned to rally Israeli MKs and parliament members from other countries to petition Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan for her release.

"Her place is not in prison, her place is in the legislature," Touma-Suleiman said.

Issa Qaraqe, the Paleostinian minister for prisoner affairs, also condemned the trial, calling it "arbitrary and legally unjustified."

"This is a political arrest. The charges against her are fabricated and ridiculous... there are no security reasons as claimed by the Israeli authorities," he told AFP.

The Paleostinian parliament, of which Jarrar is a member, has not met since 2007, after elections a year earlier were won by the Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.

In August 2014 she was ordered to leave Ramallah within 24 hours and to move to Jericho, but announced at the time that she would disobey the order.

[IsraelTimes] Military engineers prepare to demolish the West Bank homes of three alleged Paleostinian attackers

Israel Defense Forces soldiers, working in coordination with the Shin Bet security service, incarceratedDrop the rod and step away witcher hands up! overnight Sunday three suspected Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,bandidosfaceless myrmidons during a wide-scale operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, the IDF said.

Forces also carried out operations against other Hamas targets in the area, the army said in a statement.

In other activities in the West Bank, IDF engineers along with the Civil Administration, which administers the Israeli-controlled territories in the West Bank, surveyed the homes of three alleged Paleostinian attackers in preparation for demolishing the structures, the IDF said.

The army said it was acting "in accordance with the instructions of the political echelon."

In the village of Al-Mughayyer, near Ramallah, engineers assessed the home of Bassam Fares Ibrahim al-Na'ssan, who, together with an accomplice, tried to stab a border policeman in an attack on October 30 at the Tapuah Junction in the West Bank. Forces shot al-Na'ssan, injuring him, while the second attacker was rubbed out during the attack.

In the village of Silwad, soldiers surveyed the home of Anes Hamad, 21, who last Friday rammed his car into IDF soldiers north of Ramallah, lightly injuring them. Forces on the scene shot Hamad dead.

Engineers also surveyed the home of Abdel Rahman Barghouti, 26, a Paleostinian resident of Abud who lightly injured an IDF soldier in a stabbing attack, also last Friday. During a routine security check, Barghouti exited his vehicle and stabbed the soldier in the neck. The soldier sustained minor injuries and other troops shot Barghouti, killing him.

[ALMANAR.LB] A young Palestinian man managed on Monday to stab a Zionist soldier before was shot dead near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil's Old City on Monday afternoon, media sources said. The sources added that the stabbed Zionist soldier was seriously injured.

[ALMANAR.LB] The following are the photos of the impact of the aerial aggression that was carried out on Monday by the US-led coalition on one of the Syrian army sites in Deir Ezour.Just off the top of my head, they look a lot like the pictures of the US-led Saudi aggression on the Houthis from a couple months ago.
The aggression killed 3 soldiers, maimed 13 others and destroying a number of military vehicles.

Directly after the coalition's warplane launched its directed missile onto the Syrian military site, a group of ISIL forces of Evil attacked it. However,alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... the Syrian elite troops confronted them, killing scores of terrorists.

[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian Air Force and the Russian Air Force continued launching strikes against terrorist targets in various areas, destroying command centers and vehicles for the terrorist organizations.

Damascus countryside

An army unit carried out concentrated operations against the dens of terrorist organizations in Maraj al-Sultan axis deep into Eastern Ghouta, establishing control over new areas in parallel with the advance of an army unit in the western part of Maraj al-Sultan village in Damascus Countryside.

The operations also targeted terrorists' fortified positions and centers in Jisrin and Kafr Batna villages, killing at least 4 snuffies including Khaled Makawi and Hasan al-Khatib.

In Douma area, field sources said that an army unit targeted points of Jaish al-Islam...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... in Alyia Farms, al-Hajaria, Karm al-Rasas and al-Makasir Road, killing at least 7 snuffies including Suhaib Anjila, Subhi al-Mashout and Tawfik al-Hansh.

The sources added that army's operations against terrorists' hideouts in Erbin town resulted in the death of Mohammed Zaghloul, Ehsan Krnba and Moaid Arbina in addition to the destruction of their vehicles with all the weapons and ammunition inside.

Terrorist organizations acknowledged on their pages on social media sites the death of the leader of a terrorist group affiliated to the "Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union", the terrorist Salaheddin al-Slik and the terrorist Mahmoud al-Klas, a prominent sniper of Jaish al-Islam along with 4 other terrorists.

Hama/Idleb

At least 55 snuffies from ISIL and the so-called Jaish "al-Islam" terrorist organizations were killed in the army operations and Syrian and Russian Arclight airstrikes in the countryside of Hama and Idleb provinces.

The Syrian and Russian air forces targeted positions of snuffies in Kafr Zeita, 35 km north of Hama city, killing 17 of them and destroying one of their command centers, a military source told SANA on Sunday.

An anti-tank missile launching pad was destroyed to the west of al-Dahret al-Aliyeh and a center and two vehicles for the so-called Jund al-Aqsa snuffies was destroyed in al-Latamneh and 10 bad boyz were potted in the Arclight airstrikes.

Gatherings of al-Nusra...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... Front snuffies were eliminated in Lahaya al-Sharqiyeh village in the northern countryside of Hama province.

Meanwhile,...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... field sources confirmed the death of the terrorist Abdul Kareem al-Zein, along with a number of his group were killed in artillery firing on their movements in the vicinity of al-Latamneh town.

In the eastern countryside of Hama, several positions and vehicles for ISIL were destroyed in Syrian Arclight airstrikes to the east of Atherya and Jub al-Rabe'.

Meanwhile,...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... in Idleb countryside, al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations suffered heavy losses in Syrian and Russia Arclight airstrikes against their positions in Khan Sheikhoun, where vehicles equipped with various machineguns were destroyed.

Army units targeted gatherings of snuffies in al-Bsheiriyeh village and Jisr al-Shughour city, killing 7 snuffies from Chechnya and Uzbekistan.

A leader within al-Nusra named Ahmad Khaled al-Anan and ten members of his group were also killed in the operations, according to field Sources.

The sources confirmed that two vehicles loaded with arms and ammunition were destroyed in army operations in al-Hbeit village and that 11 bad boyz were potted, including the leader within "Ahrar al-Sham...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... Movement" who is named Mohammad Abdul Rahman Khattab.

Aleppo

The army's air force launched over the past 24 hours Arclight airstrikes on ISIL positions in the villages of Beijan, Rasm al-Kabir, Rasm al-Harmal and Hmeimeh Kabira in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province.

Gatherings of snuffies and centers with vehicles equipped with machine guns were hit in the Arclight airstrikes.

In the same countryside, the army units continued operations against ISIL sites and hideouts in the villages of Rasm al-Abd, Rasm al-Kama, Huweijineh, Sharbae, Qseir al-Ward, Ein al-Beida, Rasm al-Alam, Jib al-Safa, Shweilikh and Tal Ayoub.

Positions and vehicles for al-Nusra were hit in the villages and towns of Rasm Sahrij, Jarrouf, Kafr Haddad, Zityat, al-Mkahaleh and al-Zirbeh in Aleppo southern countryside and in al-Mansoura village in the western countryside.

The army operations also targeted terrorists' hideouts and fortified sites in al-Ziyareh and Khalediyeh villages in the northern countryside.

Army units targeted gatherings of snuffies and destroyed their hideouts in the vicinity of al-Nairab airport on the eastern outskirts of Aleppo city.

In Aleppo city, terrorist sites were targeted in the neighborhoods of al-Sheikh Mqsoud, al-Lairamoun, al-Rashidin and Bani Zaid.

Homs

The Syrian Air Force carried out air strikes against dens and positions of ISIL snuffies in al-Qariyatain city 85 kilometers to the southeast of Homs.

A military source said in a statement to SANA that the air strikes targeted terrorists' hotbeds and dens, inflicting heavy losses upon snuffies in personnel, munitions and vehicles, some of which equipped with machine guns.

Daraa

An army unit established control over some building blocks to the south west of al-Manshiyeh neighborhood in Daraa al-Balad after eliminating al-Nusra snuffies who were fortified inside it.

An army unit carried out an accurate operation which ended by establishing control over 14 buildings to the south west of al-Manshiyeh neighborhood in Daraa al-Balad.

A number of al-Nusra Front (Qaeda branch in the Levant) snuffies and other terrorist organizations were killed along with their arms and ammunition which were destroyed during the operation.

The army inflicted a new defeat upon terrorist organizations in Daraa countryside, the latest of which was on the outskirts of Jediyeh town 65 kilometers to the north west of Daraa city.

Terrorist organizations tried to storm the town from many directions, but the Syrian army defeated them and killed a number of snuffies while others fled away, leaving the bodies of their dead, arms and munitions behind.

Field commanders of army units asserted that this was the fifth attack that targeted the town during 2015, noting that heroes of the army always achieved victory and defended the town which is the first defense line of the area and the international highway.

Field commanders said that the Israeli occupation hands were clear in this terrorist attack since snuffies infiltrated from the axis of al-Jdeireh , and Salmeen- Zamreen axis, Salmeen- Inkhel axis to the surroundings of the town under a cover of fire from al-Mal hill and Tal al-Harra area eight kilometers far from the town where al-Nusra snuffies are fortified and work with direct coordination of the Israeli entity.

Terrorists tried to make gaps in the advanced defenses of the army by intensively the use of rocket launchers, but the army foiled the attacks and inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists.

Defeated terrorist organizations acknowledged on their social media pages scores of names of their dead.

The terrorist attack on Jediyeh town coincided with firing scores of shells on Qeita village near the town causing material damage to buildings and properties and killing a number of locals, according to local sources in the village.

The same sources said that Arclight airstrikes had killed 14 people and injured another 20, mostly children, while also damaging a number of residential areas and a school.

Mustafa Abu Shafik, a member of a local coordination committee, told Anadolu Agency that Russian warplanes had carried out more than 70 Arclight airstrikes in southern Aleppo.

Syria's local coordination committees, which consist of local activists opposed to the Assad regime, frequently publish news via social-media websites.

Shafik added that forces loyal the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadLight of the Alawites... -- with Russian air support -- had retaken Aleppo's southern village of Hilsa.

Shafik went on to say that opposition forces had responded by attacking a building used as a military headquarters by regime forces.

[ARABNEWS] At least 32 Daesh [Islamic State]bad boyz were potted on Sunday in apparent US-led coalition raids on Syria as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-AssadOppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... slammed Britannia's decision to participate in Arclight airstrikes.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said at least 32 fighters had been killed in some 15 strikes on the group's stronghold of Raqqa province in northern Syria.

The monitor's head, Rami Abdel Rahman, said at least 40 turbans were also maimed in the strikes, which hit Daesh [Islamic State] headquarters and bases to the north, east and southeast of scenic provincial capital Raqqa city.

Abdel Rahman said the casualty figures were collected from a single hospital and the final toll from the Arclight airstrikes could rise.

In an interview published Sunday in Britannia's The Sunday Times newspaper, Assad slammed London's decision to begin strikes in Syria as "illegal" and said its actions would cause "terrorism" to spread.

"It will be harmful and illegal and it will support terrorism as happened after the coalition started its operation a year or so (ago)," he said.

Terror, he said, was like a cancer, which needed to be tackled with a "comprehensive" strategy, which would involve working with troops on the ground.

"You cannot cut out part of the cancer. You have to extract it. This kind of operation is like cutting out part of the cancer. That will make it spread in the body faster.

"You cannot defeat (Daesh [Islamic State]) through Arclight airstrikes alone. You cannot defeat them without cooperation with forces on the ground. You cannot defeat them if you do not have buy-in from the general public and the government," he said.

"They are going to fail again."

On Sunday, the Observatory said the group had executed a media activist in the city of Deir Ezzor by tying him to two vehicles, which were then driven in opposite directions.

Daesh [Islamic State] accused the activist of "collaborating with the Crusader coalition" after discovering broadcasting equipment during a raid on his home, the Observatory said.

[FOXNEWS] The Pentagon confirmed Monday that U.S. airstrikes last month killed the head of the Islamic State in Libya.

Abu Nabil was targeted in a Nov. 13 airstrike carried out by F-15 aircraft in the city of Derna, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said.

Nabil, also knowns as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, was an Iraqi national and former al Qaeda operative before assuming his role as head of the Islamic State’s Libya affiliate.

The Pentagon also confirmed the death of a senior leader of Abdiraham Sandhere, known as “Ukash.” Sandhere, a senior leader of al Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, was killed on Dec. 2.

Two other al Shabaab-affiliated associates were also killed in the strike.

“Ukash's removal from the battlefield is a significant blow to al-Shabaab and reflects the painstaking work by our intelligence, military, and law enforcement professionals,” Davis said. “This is an important step forward in the fight against al-Shabaab, and the United States will continue to use the tools at our disposal- financial, diplomatic, intelligence and military - to dismantle al-Shabaab and other terrorist groups who threaten United States, interests and persons.”

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.